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Originally Posted by Peaches
America donates a huge amount of $$$ to just about every other country and has one of the most generous welfare programs for our own citizens. That money comes from taxpayers. It's a reasonable assumption for the average Joe to believe he's doing something to help those less fortunate in the world.
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Both of your points are simply untrue.
When it comes to international aid, the US is a relatively stingy country. Its foreign aid as a percentage of gdp is much lower than that of most wealthy countries. Furthermore, most of its foreign aid is actually aid to strategic partners like Israel, which up until 3 years ago received more aid than the entire continent of Africa (I don't know if that has changed by now, but I haven't seen the latest numbers yet).
America only has one of the most generous welfare programs for its own citizens if you exclude most of western Europe from the comparison, which makes it a rather empty statement.